A conventional pole strap is generally of relatively stiff but flexible material and is attached by snap hooks at its ends to rings on the lineman's body belt. In use the pole strap is passed round the far side of the utility pole or the like to be climbed and supports the lineman at a working position. When climbing the pole, or descending, the lineman adopts a side to side rolling movement while flipping the strap up and down between successive positions as he climbs up or down the pole. In order to support the lineman if he loses his footing on the pole, such pole straps are commonly fitted with braking means which are intended to engage the pole and support the lineman while he regains his footing.
Various safety devices having braking features have been proposed for braking the fall of a lineman. Such devices are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 869,382 (Newton), U.S. Pat. No. 1,120,496 (Holsclaw), U.S. Pat. No. 1,721,516 (Jacobs), U.S. Pat. No. 2,920,714 (Johnson), U.S. Pat. No. 3,407,898 (Johnson), U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,091 (Conlon), U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,196 (Allen) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,646 (Page). Many of these devices rely up the use of biting elements which are positioned so as to bite into the wood of the utility pole in the event of a fall, thereby supporting the lineman while he regains his footing. However, such devices are not effective unless the biting elements are brought into contact with the surface of the pole. To this end the pole strap is generally fitted with a cross-strap extending across the near face of the pole, the assembly forming a closed loop encircling the pole and adapted to engage the pole snugly in the event of a fall.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,074 (Sulowski et al) discloses a lineman's pole strap assembly including an outer strap of relatively stiff but flexible material adapted to extend loosely around the far side of a pole to be climbed and having end portions providing attachment means for attachment to a body belt worn by a lineman, and a cross strap which is secured at its ends to slide members slidably mounted on the outer strap so as to define with an intermediate portion of the outer strap a closed loop for encircling the pole. The slide members have integral gaffs and are interconnected by an elastic tensile or bias member, such as a coil spring or a bungee cord, which extends around the intermediate portion of the outer strap along its outer surface. In normal ascent or decent of the pole the lineman holds the cross strap away from the pole with his hands while employing the pole strap in the conventional way. If he loses his footing, he releases the cross strap, which is automatically drawn into frictional engagement with the pole by the elastic tensile member. In this way the closed loop formed by the cross strap and the outer strap is tightened onto the pole to ensure that the integral gaffs on the slide members bite the pole and support the lineman while footing is regained. Commercial embodiments based on the concepts disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,074 are offered by Honeywell under the Miller® brand as StopFall™ Fall Restraint System Product.